The Perfect Dance Partner

The guys want...

• "Acknowledgement from the partner"
  "One particular 'peeve' is being acknowledged by your partner. I especially appreciate finding/dancing with a partner who dances with me as opposed to the follower/leader who uses his leader/follower as a prop for her/his own showboating. A little eye contact goes a long way towards this, too."
• "Trust"
  It's nice to know that if I make a mistake, my dance partner will back me up and cover my mistake. If we lose contact, my partner will continue dancing as if we were still connected and will eventually find my hand without my moving out of position or stopping.
• "Someone who dances on their own weight."

The women want...

• "Someone who wants to dance with me and seems to be enjoying himself, even if I make mistakes." (2)
• "Someone who doesn't dance too high above my level"
• "Someone who doesn't dance under my level."
• "Someone who dances to the beat."
  "An idea partner knokws where the beat is" (extremely important)
• "Someone who doesn't jerk me around with a hard lead or pump my arms up and down."
• "Someone who is aware of the other dancers around us and keeps me away from people who are out of control and dangerous."
• "Someone who will warn me before we get on the dance floor if he just learned how to do the intro lesson and really doesn't know how to dance.
• "An ideal partner SMILES!!"
• "...makes eye contact more than once in a while."
• "A firm, clear, decisive lead."
• "personal style"
• "connects with the music and dances to it (breaks, etc.)"